"There's a piano in the middle of the room and [Paul] just can't help himself."
Learning to play the piano is a rite of passage for countless kids growing up but while most of us get lessons from a neighbor or parent, Dave Grohl revealed on the Graham Norton Show that his daughter Harper got her first (and only) piano lesson from a British lad named Paul McCartney.
Grohl said that after he became friends with Paul, they started hanging out anytime that the former Beatle was in Los Angeles and a few years ago, he and his wife Nancy came to Grohl’s house to see his daughter Ophelia, who had just been born. They had a night of wine and pizza and just as Paul and Nancy were heading out, something in the room caught the eye of the rock legend.
“There’s a piano in the middle of the room and [Paul] just can’t help himself,” Grohl said. “So he sits down at the piano and he starts playing ‘Lady Madonna’ in my fucking house.”
The Foo Fighters frontman said his kids were well aware of who the visitor was because their old man had “brainwashed them with the Beatles’ music” so his daughter Harper decided to grab a cup from the kitchen, fill it with coins, and put it on the piano “like it’s a tip jar.”
Harper then received her first ever piano lesson from one of the most iconic figures in music history and Grohl revealed that as they were playing chords, they ended up writing a song together. Grohl said it was “the only time I’ve taken a picture of Paul” which is an impressive display of restraint but the proud dad understandably couldn’t resist in this case. Because how many people get to say their daughter’s first piano lesson was by the guy who wrote “Let It Be” and “Maybe I’m Amazed”?
And the next morning, Grohl was making breakfast in the kitchen and heard his daughter playing the song she and Paul had created together. But sadly, when she spotted her dad watching her, she stopped and “never played the piano again.” Fortunately, she did end up taking after her dad and has now become a badass drummer in her own right.
